An elderly man with a last known address in Platte City is wanted by authorities in the state of Tennessee for alleged crimes against children.
Wendell Lee Washam, 82, is on the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation’s Top 10 Most Wanted list.
A $1,000 reward is being offered for information leading to his arrest.
Washam’s last known address is 1100 Pleasant Hill in Platte City.
The Williamson County Sheriff’s Office in Tennessee says Washam failed to report for trial on Dec. 3. He was expected to enter a guilty plea after being charged with two counts of child rape, solicitation to commit rape of a child, aggravated sexual battery, solicitation of sexual exploitation of a minor and sexual exploitation of a minor by electronic means, the TBI says.
Tennessee authorities say Washam may be in Missouri or Kansas.
Lt. Al DeValkenaere with the Platte City Police Department says Tennessee authorities have contacted Platte City police “several times in the last couple of weeks to go do residence checks for them.”
“We know of him and we’re looking for him,” DeValkenaere said this morning when contacted by The Landmark about Washam being on the Most Wanted list in Tennessee.
“We have been out to that address with the sheriff’s department and we are also monitoring that address ourselves,” DeValkenaere said.
Washam is described as a white male with gray hair and blue eyes, 5’7” tall and weighing about 130 pounds.
Det. Tamika Sanders is heading the case for the Williamson County (Tenn.) Sheriff Department’s Child Abuse and Sex Crimes unit. She was unavailable to take The Landmark’s call at deadline this morning, but recently told the Daily Herald newspaper in Columbia, Tenn. that the case involves a 9-year-old girl who was sexually abused more than once between April and September of 2011.
“I want him in our jail quick, fast and in a hurry,” Sanders told the Daily Herald. “I think that he is a very dangerous man to our children.”
Sanders also told the Daily Herald that authorities have “information that (Washam) has been around other minors, but I don’t know that he has committed another offense.”
Anyone with information should call local Platte City or Platte County authorities, or call Det. Tameka Sanders in Tennessee at 615-790-5554 or 615-790-5550; or the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation at 800-TBI-FIND.
 WENDELL LEE WASHAM
